Service-learning is a teaching method that engages young people in solving problems within their schools and communities as part of their academic studies or other type of intentional learning activity. Service-learning helps students master important curriculum content by supporting their making meaningful connections between what they are studying and its many applications. Service-learning also helps young people develop a range of service skills, from acts of kindness and caring, to community stewardship, to civic action.
| Picking up trash by a riverbank is service. Studying water samples under a microscope is learning. When students collect and analyze water samples and the local pollution control agency uses the findings to clean up a river... that is service-learning. [courtesy of the National Youth Leadership Council] |
Examples
- Elementary school students tutor younger students and improve their mastery of essential literacy skills.
- Math students make calculations that persuade local authorities to install a traffic light near their school to reduce accidents at a dangerous intersection.
- History students research the local heroes identified on plaques in their community and share what they have learned at the annual Memorial Day ceremony.
- Language arts students hone their writing skills by organizing a campaign to reduce bullying on their school buses.
- Successful service-learning project examples by the Chicago Public Schools
Support for Service-Learning
Service-learning is now in a position to realize its considerable potential due to increased public support. Over the past two decades, teachers, administrators, and parents have come to understand that when service is linked to learning and placed at the core of the curriculum, the combination opens the door to the multi-faceted education Americans want for all young people, equipping them for their roles not just as learners, but as community members and workers too.[i] (Roper summary)
Research
An emerging body of research suggests that service-learning practice can strengthen student learning in a number of important ways. [ii] (RMC research report) And because service-learning makes a positive contribution to communities as well, it has become an increasingly prized pedagogy.
Service-learning's appeal is also increasing because service-learning practice is grounded in current research findings about effective teaching and learning. Investigators have found that when rigorous study in academic disciplines is linked to serious work on real needs, students' motivation to learn increases.
Prevalence
Service-learning is now practiced in about a third of the nation's public schools. [iii] (NCES report)
Unique Benefits
Service-learning supports the American commitment to public schooling as preparation for an informed citizenry. Former Senator John Glenn chaired the National Commission on Service-Learning, which called service-learning "the single best way" to educate young people for active citizenship in a democracy.[iv] (Full Report | Executive Summary)
Well-implemented service-learning fosters benefits for young people, their families, educational institutions, and community organizations. The Partnership concentrates on the impact service-learning has on young people's learning and development, especially their academic and civic preparation. When teachers are rigorous about partnering with young people to design and carry out service-learning projects that are tied to curricular objectives and standards, they are likely to benefit in the following ways:
- Academic and intellectual benefits. Service-learning supports young people in mastering important curriculum content by helping them make meaningful connections between what they are studying and its many applications.
- Civic and ethical benefits. Service-learning allows young people to explore and develop skills for a range of ways to serve, including acts of kindness and caring, community stewardship, and civic action.
- Social and personal benefits. Service-learning offers young people a holistic learning experience that can increase their engagement in learning, provide them access to adult mentors, bolster their self-confidence, and enhance their preparation for the world of work.
[ii] Shelley H. Billig. The Impacts of Service-Learning on Youth, Schools and Communities: Research on K-12 School-Based Service-Learning [http://wkkf.org/Programming/RenderRes.aspx?CID=13&ID=3682].
[iii] Rebecca Skinner and Chris Chapman. Service-Learning and Community Service in K-12 Public Schools. US Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics: Washington DC, 1999. [http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999043.pdf].
[iv] National Commission on Service-Learning, Learning In Deed: The Power of Service-Learning for American Schools [Full Report | Executive Summary].